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BLACK SABBATH AND IRON MAIDEN SIGN ON FOR OZZFEST:

March 15, 2005

The 10th anniversary edition of Ozzfest will boast a main stage lineup of Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall and Black Label Society, Billboard.com has learned. The trek will begin July 15 at Boston’s Tweeter Center and play 26 dates through a Sept. 4 finale in West Palm Beach, Fla.

The Hot Topic Second Stage will be headlined by Rob Zombie and feature some of hard rock’s rising acts, including As I Lay Dying, Mastodon, the Haunted, In Flames, Arch Enemy, the Black Dahlia Murder, Bury Your Dead, Soilwork, Trivium and A Dozen Furies.

Ozzfest is the top-grossing touring festival of all time, and, outside of the Vans Warped tour, is the longest-lived. Since 1996, Ozzfest has grossed $172 million and drawn 4.2 million fans to about 240 shows, according to producers Clear Channel Entertainment (CCE).

Jane Holman, general manager of CCE’s touring division and producer of Ozzfest, is high on this year’s lineup. “It was a real coup to get Iron Maiden this year,” she tells Billboard.com. “To have Iron Maiden playing with Black Sabbath is incredible. Heads will explode.”

Early purchasers of Sabbath leader Ozzy Osbourne’s March 22 boxed set, “Prince of Darkness,” can take advantage of a buy-one-get-one-free coupon for an Ozzfest ticket. To redeem, fans can go to the Ozzfest.com Web site and punch in the code on the coupon.

Osbourne admits the tour has grown beyond his wildest expectations. “It’s grown so fucking quickly, I can’t begin to tell you,” he tells Billboard.com.

He says the tour only got off the ground after his wife/manager Sharon “asked Lollapalooza if we could get a spot on their tour, and they said there’s no room, I don’t know if it was me in particular or for that kind of music. And Sharon got pissed and said, ‘f*** them, we’ll do our own thing.”

Tickets will range from $35 on the lawn to $85 for gold circle. “We really, really try so hard to keep the costs down,” says Sharon. “We’re not one of these that say, ‘We’ve got great bands, we can really yank the ticket prices and squeeze Joe Public.’ We try to bring the best talent for the best prices. I wish a beer cost the same as it did 10 years ago, too.”

Courtesy of www.billboard.com